Abaddon (Ryan J. Gaven)
“The average human body has about 5 liters of blood and losing 3 or 4 of them is bad. Exsanguinations of this kind lead to lack of oxygen and nutrients in the brain and other vital organs. Pretty much, the body starts to shut down slowly until the curtain drops and you’re very much dead. But um…not for me. And once that guy over there gets a little closer, he’s going to find out why.” – Ryan Gaven. __TOC__ 'History' Early Life Abaddon is the alter-ego of Ryan Jeremiah Gaven, a seemingly normal college student and entertainment retail employee. He is the illegitimate son of Michael Rivven (better known publicly as the hero Archangel) and alice Gaven, the daughter of notorious metahuman serial killer and criminal mastermind, Rissell Richards. The pair shared a brief relationship during the time that Alice turned her father's secrets in to the authorities pursuing him--Archangel included. Shortly after Russell's arrest, Alice went into hiding and gave birth to a son, consealing his existence from Michael. Ryan was brought up in a single-parent household, never knowing his father, in Miami, Florida. From his infancy Ryan was diagnosed with Erlington's Syndrome, a rare congenital heart malformation that makes his heart rather delicate under stress. His metagene was first activated when he was eight, after a dog attacked and bit him, causing his arm to bleed profusely. The blood reacted to his terror at the large dog and solidified into barbed wire that drove the dog off. This revelation unsettled his mother because his power was all too similar to his grandfather's and she bade him to never show his power to anyone, worried he would suffer repercussions for what Russell did. Ryan’s mother lost her life in a car accident when he was ten and Ryan was put in the hands of social services. This led him to finally meet his father for the first time. Michael was allowed a private talk with the boy and Ryan accidentally realized that his father was his long-time idol, the Archangel. As a younger child, Ryan had witnessed Archangel's battle to stop metahuman Elijah Dalloway and saw his hero's hand being pierced through by a metal shard, resulting in a distinctive scar. The boy had also memorized Archangel's real voice and could identify it no matter how much Michael disguised it—perhaps a sign of Ryan’s later skill at ‘reading’ people. Despite the revelation of his father’s identity and the adoration Ryan showed, Michael rejected responsibility over him, seemingly unsettled by his relation to Richards and troubled by his own problematic marriage. Ryan was sent into foster care, seemingly out of dislike but, as Michael later admitted, also an effort to keep the boy out of his world of crime-fighting and constant danger. Ultimately, Michael’s despotic and traditionalist mother, Mathilda, was behind this decision, threatening to oust Michael’s secret identity and expose his family to the underworld unless he removed ‘the bastard’ from their lives and the Rivven family. This fact would not come to light until shortly before Mathilda’s death of natural causes, nearly fifteen years later. Rejected by both father and idol, Ryan was left to fend for himself while being moved between families through social services. He endured physical and emotional abuse in these families, unsuited and unprepared to deal with a child such as him, and could never properly fit in. Among his worst experiences was realizing one of his foster siblings was a psychopath with violent homicidal tendencies that finally materialized in an attempt to murder the father of the family. Because he became so withdrawn and silent, having to protect his secrets, he was frequently bullied and ostracized due to his heart problem. He had very few friends, a bad temper, got into a lot of trouble, was nearly sent to reform school once and frequently turned to music to alleviate his frustrations. Part of his early adolescence, from the age of 15 and on, involved underground illegal fighting (what would later become known as the ‘8-Ring’) that engaged teenagers and being caught in a gang shootout by sheer bad luck. His early involvement with the underworld of Miami would become a valuable resource of information later in his career. Brothers The big change came one year before he could finally leave his oppressive, last foster family and live his own life, when he would turn 18. He was to attend college in Miami through a scholarship and besides a slew of part-time jobs, had a small trust-fund left by his mother to start his independent life. Gabriel Rivven, his half brother from Michael's marriage to Jennifer Wilson, sought him out against their father's wishes and expectations; Michael still seemed unwilling to stomach the existence of his eldest, illegitimate son. The two siblings, after a rocky start, were at ease with each other and pooled resources to live in a shared apartment while they both studied in college—Ryan in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior (later he added Criminology and Forensics as well) and Gabe in Web Design & Interfaces and Advanced Programming. Ryan’s experience with a psychopathic foster sibling prompted his interest in psychology and in particular he immersed himself in the research of psychopathic tendencies in juveniles and children. Later still, he also studied the effects of the metagene and metahuman powers in human psychology. Things looked well for the pair despite Gabriel's estrangement from their father, which Ryan disapproved of. They often talked about their future and what they should do with their powers, but Ryan was adamant he didn't want to become involved with what he called “the hero business” because of their father. He felt that, as he was, he would never be left at peace and would constantly be compared to his grandfather, which would inevitably become a hindrance. Eventually their routine came to an end when a wave of unprecedented crime struck Miami, culminating in a mob of unidentified, monstrous-looking creatures running rampant through the city. With panic spreading in the city and armed forces finding it difficult to control the bizarre creatures, Gabe finally convinced Ryan that they had to do something. Ryan caved and the two hurriedly put together makeshift 'costumes' out of some of their clothes and set out to help the police and SWAT with the creatures. Although they nearly got killed due to inexperience, they were successful in curbing the attacking creatures and identifying their origin: an illegal genetic research lab that was developing B.O.Ws, Bio Organic Weapons. This lab would later turn out to have been run by Dr. Dio, an adversary that would frequently cause them problems. They were caught by the media during their battle and given 'nicknames' by an over-excited reporter named Andrew Coltrane, as Abaddon and Uriel. Although neither of the siblings was particularly happy about the first impression they'd made and the nicknames they earned, they kept it to themselves out of embarrassment, and Ryan would later be quoted saying that Coltrane was ‘a religious nut’. In the wake of the incident, they received a visit from Archangel—the first time Ryan saw his father since he was abandoned to social services, nearly nine years previously. Gabe attempted to make a conversation between them possible, but Michael was only interested in insulting Ryan and blaming Gabe's near death on him and his 'influence'. Ryan took the matter seemingly calmly, used to constant belittling, but Gabe had enough and punched his father in the face before forcing him out of their apartment. Ryan was not happy with the matter and went after Michael; he apologized for Gabe's behavior because he couldn't bear to see Gabe suffer the same disconnection from his family that he himself had. Ryan and Michael came to a grudging truce and agreed to keep out of each other's hair and let Gabe make his own choices. Following the B.O.W incident, Ryan thought it would be better for him to never appear publicly again, as rumor began to spread in the media that the hero identified as Abaddon was related to Russell Richards, or even Richards himself, due to the similarity of their powers. But one evening, while returning home after work he stumbled onto the scene of an accident: A fire consuming a building and firefighters struggling to put it out and evacuate unfortunate residents. He tried to walk away and leave it to the firefighters, but his consciousness got the best of him and he used blood armor to form a helmet and jumped in to help, rescuing three trapped residents from the flames and two firefighters—including the squad's captain. The police, who were searching for him to question him in relation to Russell Richards, arrived on the scene as Abaddon collapsed from smoke inhalation. The firefighters concealed him under firefighter clothing while putting him on oxygen and told the police he had fled the scene. The captain of the firefighters thanked him for saving his men and the incident taught him that there was still a possibility of acceptance for him; maybe not from authorities like the police, but from the citizens themselves. Eventually he and Gabe began to train and modify their 'costumes'; they began patrolling Miami as regular crime fighters, adopting the names that the press first gave them, much to Michael's chagrin. The reason was, the people were already calling them with those names and neither had any better ideas. On one of their patrols, Abaddon ran into Ashley Caradyne—when she fell on him after being thrown off the edge of a sky-scraper in downtown Miami. Uriel and Abaddon helped her rescue her father, the retired metahuman burglar Smoke, from a terrorist ring and Abaddon began feeling an attraction to the feisty metahuman girl, even though she blatantly blew him off. Ironically, the following week she approached them while they were stopping a bank robbery gone wrong and introduced herself as Feral, practically inviting herself in their 'team'. Without much of an argument against it, they reluctantly let her join them and agreed to the name she suggested for their team: The Nightwatch. Before long, word of their existence got out and they were joined by Demosthene Savoy—Samedi's Envoy, who had taken on the mantle of being an avatar of the Voodoo god as long as he could use it to protect people from more than just misused Voodoo. Following a worsening of Ryan's heart condition they were approached by Dr. Evan Kelly, a doctor and metahuman owning a clinic in Miami, who happened to be a friend of the Rivven family. He offered to help them with Ryan's medical problem and allowed them to use the clinic as a base, offering them support and advice as a senior and doctor. Under his care, Abaddon got better and they 'recruited' another member, The Weatherman. Category:Character Category:Nightwatch Category:Talon Corps Agent Category:The Dante Society